March 02, 2011

Westboro Wins

The Supreme Court of the United States has ruled 8-1 in favor of the Westboro thugs.

On the one hand,the threshold for a first amendment exception must necessarily be kept
very high, on the other hand this situation is a pretty damned high threshold. The only thing a funeral protester of this sort does is inflict pain.

The decision was 8-1, Alito dissenting, and the Chief
Justice exercised his prerogative to write the decision. That pretty
well
settles the matter: you have the right not only to say infuriating
things,
but also to say them in the most sensitive of places, so long as you
are not
disruptive: and you cannot be sued in civil courts for offending the
parents
of a war hero merely because you are being offensive.

This should have considerable impact on hate speech
laws; it
also ought to have some effect on the suppression of majority
opinion
because it offends a particular minority. If the Westbro Baptist
Church has
the right to say "Thank God for dead soldiers" at a funeral for a
dead
soldier, it should be difficult to defend suppressing displays
"offensive"
to Muslims outside their mosques. I haven't read the decision yet,
but it
certainly implies that non-disruptive speech knows no bounds of
context and
place.

So there is a silver lining. As Dr Pournelle points out, those hate speech laws are suddenly on much shakier ground.

1
I truly find Westboro to be a vile and evil pestilence upon this country and would shed no tears if they woke up one morning and discovered themselves surrounded by a million hungry ocelots. Yet even before Dr P pointed out how it has deeper ramifications, I applauded the Supreme Court's decision.

As much as I detest them, it's the right call. Now I feel icky for "supporting" them.